Nature had only one form, a rude one,
all Chaos, a profitless bulk, a mass
swallowed in darkness unpatterned;
hence the elements long lay in dire disarray,
a big wretched mess by light unbrightened,
fire and wet, earth and air all commingled,
whence derived all things' pregnant beginnings.
In due course, God dissolved this tough lump,
formed a splendid design to sort everything out,
disjoined earth from the heavens, the sea from the air,
and bade nature obey certain uniform laws.

manifesting the world's state, and life as a whole.
These four ages are named after glittering metals
each of which has it over the next in the series,
in that silver is by no means tawny gold's equal,
nor do both of those metals command the same price;
just so rust-covered iron is bested by bronze,
and in its native virtues falls short of its worth.
In the same way, four eras of time are distinguished;
in its own right, the first aptly claims the first rank
and the Golden stands out as the best of all four,
when the world dwelt according to God's sacred covenants
and lived modest indeed without laws to constrain,
reveling in its glad love of an untroubled peace.
Without fear, faith and piety governed the folk,
and men followed through on their just courses.
But soon all began slipping and changed for the worse,
nor, as erstwhile, did honesty make a long stay.

and the cosmos was all under unconquered Jove,
there commenced the next age under worsening signs,
bringing in worse times with its arrival
though bearable still; shortened spring still survives,
and the turning year now has four seasons
as imaged of old in the curves of a snake
that goes round like a circle embracing itself.
Now uncertain times follow in certain succession,
and each comes around in its own order;
spring and summer, fall, winter divide up the world,
whence hard living and labor weigh heavy on men.
In woods they look for huts which are woven of bark
and find shelter in little shacks covered with leaves.
And since earth now yields no more spontaneous fruits,
now the dull plowshare cleaves the hard acre
and fat seeds are consigned to the broken up clods,
whence his sure returns come to the farmer.

for bronze, less upright than the others aforesaid,
more savage in nature, devoted to war,
since a wild love of combat provokes them at heart.
Now a man is born keen on contending, and too quick
to take up bristling arms, though still this side of crime;
to this there then succeeds the so-called Age of Iron
which brings in with it all sorts of outrage.
Piety, virtue, and sense of right flee;
fraud and force, crime and greed take their places.
Now first trusting himself to the volatile main,
the bold sailor attempts the sea's treachery.
Mortals turn up the hidden inward parts of the earth
and of heavy gold mine immense talents;
hence succeed bloody Mars' bitter clashes
and on every side mutual slaughter;
and, to sum up in brief where this leaves us,
the just cause dies the death, and brute violence prevails.

and intent on invading the heavenly halls.
They heaped massed mountains up to the glittering stars
and desired to dislodge Jove from his native seat
but the Father almighty laid them low with his keen
lightning-bolt, killing off their dire bodies on contact.
The earth dripped with her offspring's spilt blood
and the gore formed a race like its forbears; then
there sprang up a wicked breed, scorning the gods
and addicted to violence, red-handed.

with its crimes it provoked God to justified wrath,
and now every sin spread, tending toward the extreme.
Jupiter arose stirred by Lycaon's detestable daring
as in his outraged heart he considered his crimes,
and he summoned his council to the great Thunderer's halls
and in person assembled the gods in his kingly abode.
He revealed to them how he was moved in his innermost heart
and arraigned the disgusting and fierce race of men,
and as he brought to light their outrageous cruel deeds,
he maintained they had earned severe punishment;
so he swore by the dismal and Stygian marsh
that he soon planned to bring evildoers to pain,
yet saw fit to try all other remedies first;
the kind cohort agrees, and approves of his counsel.

laying awful death-traps for all comers.
Jove in mortal form entered his hall
and displayed many signs of his godhead;
the tyrant shortly made ready to kill him
but first bade him to sit down and dine.
Soon he served up to Jove the roast flesh of
the men he had killed with his own ruthless hand;
outraged God promptly gave his house up to swift
flames, while the turn-tail king made a quick exit.
He escaped as a wolf now rejoicing in blood shed by cattle,
retaining the tokens of his former frenzy.

walked along the blind paths of perdition,
undeterred by chastisements or warnings,
a death-sentence awaited the reprobate.
Jove determined in mind (whom opinion sways not)
to destroy all creation with a deluge,
who forthwith carries out his heart's hidden decrees,
and pours down copious rain from all quarters
as if great rivers flow from high heaven
intermixed with the blackened sea's tempests;
rushing wave-torrents swallow the earth,
overwhelming high towers, till the sea knows no bounds.
Here die men, birds, brute beasts; none
escape; the waves' surge bears off all.

since the waves had now swallowed towns, cities,
and groves, even high-towering peaks in their gulf, the
sole man living yet is Deucalion with his faithful spouse,
passing safe through the punishing fates of the deep,
and his curved little boat promptly settles upon
Mt. Parnassus that climbs to the clouds with its peak.
Here the just and good man hurries forth with the
wife of his bed, calling on the high gods, and
now sees the waves slowly begin to give ground;
now the hilltops arise, and the shore holds the sea.

then Deucalion addressed his mate, Pyrrha by name:
'O my sister, my wife, and my sweet hope,' he said,
'Now we two are the tribe, sole survivors of our entire
folk; how shall we make the human race prosper?
Would that we could bring back, ah! the crowds of the slain;
the gods likely will lend us their counsel.'
So they visit the oracle of Themis the mighty,
and with humble heart pray to the goddess for help.
She tells both to go veiled and with their
garments loose, to depart from her temple;
Themis then directs them to cast swiftly behind them
the hard bones of the mother who bore them.
They both anxiously ponder the dubious sayings
till they find the course mapped by the oracle;
they throw back in their footsteps the stones of the earth--
stones the bones of the mother who bore them--
and at once these begin to take on human form,
from whence worldwide the new race increases.

and of beasts the earth brought forth a myriad of species
and kinds known before, but bore new monsters too.
For it also gave birth to a scale-covered serpent
which belched bitter venom from its toxic mouth;
threatening so, it struck people with horror and panic
and left their hearts filled with stark terror.
Hunting it with his bent bow, Apollo the long-haired
pelted it with the deadly fierce arrows he hauled
from his quiver, hailed down hundreds of bolts on
the Python, broadsided the beast with cruel darts,
and the monster once crushed, the black blood gushing forth
from its wounds, he established new games in memoriam.

her white skin glowed with beautiful blushes,
and from her rosy face shone out loveliness.
Phoebus loved her, but his plans did not turn out well
for the lover; his thwarted desires baulk the god;
for the chaste girl's resolve was unwavering
to live lifelong a celibate virgin.
Phoebus' heart was inflamed with immoderate heat
and love surged up in his burning breast;
he pursued Daphne's steps at full speed
using his tenderest phrasing to call her.
The more passionate he got, the more swiftly she flew
quite discounting the volatile words of the caller,
unmoved by any promise or entreaty,
with no wish to try out Venus' pleasures.

closing in finally, breathing down the fugitive's neck
like a shrill breeze on her tousled hair;
all her strength now used up, the white maiden grows paler,
and halts overcome with the hard labor of her rapid flight.
Spying Peneus' waves in her exhaustion,
she cries out terrified to her father for help;
then her tender joints yield to dense torpor,
and soft limbs are ensheathed in hard bark.
Soon her hair becomes leaves, her arms branches,
and she turns to the laurel beloved of the Palatine god.

for he looked for, and missed, Io his ravished daughter;
wherever he looked, she was not to be found.
Jupiter had spied her coming back unattended from
her father's stream, and went after her slyly and salaciously;
he urged her to go into a grove, to the lair of wild beasts,
saying, "Never fear; God's looking after you."
He brought cloud-cover, too, wrapped the world up
in darkness, enveloped the earth in black night,
and lasciviously thus he enjoyed the maid's love;
bitter Juno, though, sensed the ruse, marveling
at how darkness had fallen in broad daylight.
Hastily covering up for his criminal deed, Jove
transformed the girl into a good-looking cow, so that
Inachus' daughter was turned into Jove's favorite-heifer.

since her looks were so striking for a heifer,
nor could Jove with much justice deny her.
So he made her a gift of the gleaming white cow;
but the goddess feared still, even getting the gift.
For the thought of Jove's tricks and a husband's sly cheating
were plenty to fill her with uncertain fear.
So she gave watchful Argus the cow for safekeeping,
whose head was lit up with a hundred clear eyes;
but in standard rotation, two slept at a time,
while the rest at all times kept a diligent watch.
Thenceforth Io stood close and in Argus' clear view
with him everywhere keeping his eyes on her,
and by day he left her free to graze the green grass
but then bound up her curved horns at nighttime.

before long he sent Mercury on down to earth
on a mission to terminate Argus.
Instantly the swift fellow obeyed Father's orders,
promptly plunging from Jove's lofty stronghold,
shedding his heaven-suit, wandering through remote
fields in the lowly disguise of a shepherd.
On a slender reed he plays adroitly with his pleasant
muse; Argus pricks up his ears and attends him,
taken with the great sweetness of Mercury's new song
and admiring its artful and elegant sounds.
Mercury goes on lulling his soul with his song
while sleep bears down on his beguiled eyes
and he fights to hold off creeping slumber,
with such power did the sweet tune entrance him.

there once lived a certain Naiad named Syrinx,
an outstanding nymph--great complexion;
Pan was smitten--all kindled with love for her--
watching which way she went on her errands,
and proposed water-sprite's holy marriage, but
scorning his pleas, the nymph went for the wilds,
running off at top speed till she reached Ladon's banks
where the water brought her to a standstill.
With distraught mind she called on her sisters,
who at once rendered her a thin cane; and while
she sighed in place, a reed stirred river-side by
the wind, she continually uttered sweet noises. From
the new reed was fashioned my flute," Maia's son said in
closing, "and through this device she makes music."

in defeat sleep began to creep over his eyes,
till at last all were conquered with slumber.
Argus snoring away, with swift sword the Arcadian god
following his Father's orders despatched him;
Juno, though, promptly gathering up his sparkling
eyes and bespangling her bird's back all over,
decking out the peacock's tail with its glittering gems--
this the source of that fowl's gorgeous raiment--
thenceforth bore down more harshly than ever on Io,
who, harried by Furies, roves this way and that
coursing all lands alike as a luckless mad cow
though at long last she got her old form back;
with her suffering at end she regained her old shape,
known worldwide as the linen-swathed Isis.